Household and commercial appliances, for example stoves, ranges, dishwashers, refrigerators, clothes washers and dryers, and other appliances, require careful installation so that they operate properly and fit correctly into their surrounding environment. Three important measures of the installation of an appliance are the degree to which the appliance is level, the height of the appliance, and the ease of moving the appliance, for example during installation, maintenance, or cleaning.
The performance of many appliances can be diminished if they are not level during operation. For example, an oven that is not level will often bake cakes that are also not level. If the burners or other cooking surfaces of a stove are not level, foods such as eggs in a frying pan may pool on one side and cook unevenly. Refrigerators may have systems, such as cooling or ice making systems, which function best when they are level. Clothes washers may become unbalanced more easily when they are not installed level. For this reason, devices for leveling appliances are known in the art.
The height of an appliance is also often important. It may be advantageous to adjust the height of an appliance to match its surrounding cabinetry or countertop. A cook may wish to adjust the height of an appliance for comfort during use, or for other reasons. Even small differences in height or level of an appliance can create a perception of low quality or defective construction, of both the appliance and its surroundings. For these reasons, devices to adjust the height of an appliance are known in the art.
Appliances are often heavy and awkwardly shaped. It may be difficult to maneuver appliances during installation, especially into limited or confined spaces. It may also be necessary to move appliances to allow maintenance and cleaning of the appliances themselves and the areas around the appliances. For these reasons, it is common to place wheels on appliances.
It may be necessary or desirable to level an appliance, or adjust the height of an appliance, after the appliance has been placed in its final position, especially when the appliance is not easily movable. Even a movable appliance, e.g. one with wheels, may be most conveniently leveled or fitted into place after it is moved into its final horizontal position, to exactly match the countertops and surrounding cabinetry. Adjustment of the height or level of the rear of an appliance can be difficult, however, because access to the rear of an appliance may be very limited, for example in the case of a refrigerator or stove fitted into a space between surrounding countertops. For these reasons, devices to adjust the height of the rear of an appliance from the front are known in the art.